Affinity Photo Mask layer problems

[Pat Rick]

Hello, on multiple photos I've made mask layers from a selection and have wanted to add some of the layer back in by painting white on the mask layer (which I've successfully done many times before). However, when I attempt to use a white paint brush on the mask layer I'm unable to add anything back in unless it's specifically the Pixel Brush tool. While this may be an acceptable workaround sometimes, I don't have any control on the hardness the edges so I can't add anything back in smoothly. Why does the paint brush not allow white on the mask layer to reintroduce pieces of the photos I'm editing?

[rcsilber]

You may want to check to be sure the brush opacity is set to 100% and the brush Blend Mode (in the tool bar) is set to normal. 

[Old Bruce]

16 hours ago, Pat Rick said:

I'm unable to add anything back in unless it's specifically the Pixel Brush tool.

Which tool would you want to use?

[NotMyFault]

16 hours ago, Pat Rick said:

I don't have any control on the hardness the edges so I can't add anything back in smoothly

The paint brush allows to set the hardness of edges from 0% to 100%, this should give you full control to smoothness.

In addition you could use any gray color nuance, and adjust flow or opacity to further smooth.

https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/Tools/tools_paintBrush.html

[Pat Rick]

17 hours ago, rcsilber said:

You may want to check to be sure the brush opacity is set to 100% and the brush Blend Mode (in the tool bar) is set to normal. 

Thanks for the reply. The opacity and flow are both 100%

 

28 minutes ago, NotMyFault said:

The paint brush allows to set the hardness of edges from 0% to 100%, this should give you full control to smoothness.

In addition you could use any gray color nuance, and adjust flow or opacity to further smooth.

https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/Tools/tools_paintBrush.html

But the pixel tool does not have that same effect. The brush just gets smaller within the nozzle but it's still sharp pixels. So if the pixel tool is the only way I can paint in the mask layer that's not good 

 

52 minutes ago, Old Bruce said:

Which tool would you want to use?

As I stated in the OP, I was wondering why the regular paint brush tool would not work, because I was implying I wanted to use that. Sorry if that wasn't clear enough

[NotMyFault]

2 hours ago, Pat Rick said:

Thanks for the reply. The opacity and flow are both 100%

 

But the pixel tool does not have that same effect. The brush just gets smaller within the nozzle but it's still sharp pixels. So if the pixel tool is the only way I can paint in the mask layer that's not good 

 

As I stated in the OP, I was wondering why the regular paint brush tool would not work, because I was implying I wanted to use that. Sorry if that wasn't clear enough

Ah now I see. 

When the paint brush tool is not working, please try:

• select the paint brush tool
• select white color, 100% color opacity in color panel
• select a basic round brush (brush panel, category "basic")
• Set Opacity, Flow, Hardness to 100%
• use "more" (right to "hardness") / reset brush
• check if "protect alpha" is active. right most menu in toolbar. Deactivate it.
• check if channels panel / edit alpha channel is active. Click "reset"
•  Put the mask layer in solo mode / isolation mode.
• Check if the brush works on a regular pixel layer.
• Use Edit>Preferences>Miscellaneous>Rest Brushes

If nothing helps, upload your document and a screenshot of the document opened in Photo / Designer. Please include the color panel, toolbar, channels panel in the screenshot (maybe use multipel screenshots)